Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 10/09/2009

Contact person(s):

Media Coordinator, Terry Menshek - (707) 565-3098 Media Spokesperson, Assistant District Attorney Christine Cook

Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California

PALM DRIVE HEALTH CARE DISTRICT BOARD NOT IN VIOLATION

Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua announced today that the Board of Directors of Palm Drive Health Care District did not violate the Brown Act in its handling of the events preceding the Board’s placement on administrative leave of Chief Executive Officer James Russell. The review followed complaints from Russell and a concerned citizen. The principal allegation was that between June 12 and June 15, 2009, three of the five members of the Board had a series of private communications outside of a public board meeting, and in violation of the Brown Act, that resulted in Board Secretary Stephen Murphy meeting with Russell on June 16, 2009, to seek his resignation.

“The Brown Act is a central foundation of our democratic process. A public board’s actions are required to be conducted openly and in a public setting,” said District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua. “When we receive a complaint alleging a Brown Act violation, we review the matter carefully and take each complaint seriously. In this case, we concluded that the Brown Act was not violated,” Passalacqua added.

The Brown Act prohibits private communications by a quorum of a board’s members for the purpose of discussing and facilitating an agreement as to an action to be taken by the Board. In this case, a quorum would be three or more Board members. Here, there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate that three Board members participated in discussions that facilitated and/or resulted in an agreement to seek Russell’s resignation. Therefore, there was no violation of the Brown Act. Moreover, even if there had been a violation, the board corrected it, as allowed by the Brown Act, by subsequently holding two separate Board meetings where they discussed and voted on Russell’s job performance and employment status.

Despite his finding that the Board did not violate the Brown Act, Passalacqua did recommend that the Board’s members receive training on compliance with the Brown Act, and adopt a written set of policies and procedures with respect to communications between board members regarding District business.

The complaint was reviewed by Deputy District Attorney Matt Cheever.